Lubna Khalid

Lubna Khalid was born and raised in Pakistan. She moved to Toronto in the year 2000. She holds a Master’s degree in Physiology from University of Karachi, Pakistan. She is also a member of Ontario Society of Medical Technologists. Since she moved to Toronto, she has been an active member of her community working with immigrant women from South Asia. She coordinates a Women’s leadership training program Women Speak Out at Working for Change, a not for profit organization which provides employment opportunities to people with Mental Health issues. She is also involved with Status of Women Canada’s national project for the best practices model for Women’s leadership and empowerment. Lubna believes that social exclusion of women affects all the aspects of our communities and integration is the key to erase stereotyping and stigma.

Chris Harris

I am an African-Canadian radical adult educator and anti-racist activist in Toronto who also produces revolutionary hip hop music in collaboration with the indigenous rap group 6 Bronx Zoo from 6 Nations. I am also a single parent of three kids whom I love dearly: Shaheem (14), Jayden (10), and Amina (4).

I have a background in organizing radical adult education in social justice movements. As a youth organizer at the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), I organized a peacebuilding Hood2Hood movement with African-Canadian male youth in street gangs to reduce the level of gun violence in the Black community. At BADC I also helped organize an African-Canadian female youth organization called Set it Off in three west-end high school to engage young Black women in mentorship and leadership training.
I am passionate about organizing radical adult education programs for immigrant and refugee women that link radical adult education and popular education with grassroots organizing on the ground. I am also involved in indigenous solidarity activism with various churches (Anglican, United, Jesuit etc) in the Restorative Relations Working Group at Council Fire Native Cultural Centre. Over the years, I learned to organize in solidarity with indigenous struggles while organizing in immigrant communities because we are all treaty people on indigenous land.
This year, I worked with newcomer Najia Zewari, a UN Women rights worker, and leader of the Afghan Women’s Network, a modern Women’s movement inAfghanistan. Together we organized a global citizenship academic upgrading course for immigrant and refugee women at the Centre for Community Learning and Development (CCL&D) in Regent Park. Najia taught the course, Global Citizenship for Peace, Equity, and Social Justice and when it was done, students and I learned Najia’s model of network organizing in Afghanistan. Then Najia, CCL&D academic upgrading students and I organized a student group called the Global CitizenNetwork to engage in network organizing and indigenous solidarity activism.

I am influenced by models of popular education and radical adult education from Latin America that link participatory forms of learning to grassroots organizing and movement-building. I believe popular education in the field of Canadian adult education can contribute to radical social change because popular education has helped transform the political and economic landscape of Latin America over the past 50 years. I think it has the potential to have a significant impact in North America over the next 50 years.